Western cyclone., 1887-08-26
THE VERDICT REACHED.
THE BLAME FOR THE ACCI-
DENT FIXED.
Foreman cOughlin Held Responsible for
the Disaster and is Placed
Under Arrest.

CHATswoRrH, Ill, Aug. 19-The coro-
ner's jury agreed on a verdict this morning
which holds Timothy Coughlin, the foreman
OF section z, to the grand jury and negative
ly exonerates the company. The manage
ment Is not censured for running double
headers, for lax system OF track inspection,
or for anything else The verdict simply
says that the failure to patrol the track are
subjects for criticism. The friends of the
road on the jury had better staying qualities
than those who wanted to fix portion Of
the blame on the company. At the last mo-
ment the jury got into a wrangle over the
word "fre" in the clause respecting the man
Ger in which the bridge caught fire. Major
Shaw insisted that nothing in the evidence
showed how the fire was communicated; so
the verdict says: eve, the jury, think the
bridge caught fire from the burning grass"
Coroner Longs list contains seventy-eight
names The man thought to be A. Martin Of
Bloomington was identified by his friends as
III. II. CaSsell Of Washington, Ill. The body
supposed to be that of n. A. Moore Of Jack
sonville turned out to be j. n. Vokes of
Moline. Coroner Long adds Mrs. Meals -
month-old babe to the company's list. Sep
arate verdicts were made out for each per-
son. Mrs Duckett's is the first name on the
list The following is the verdict of the cor
oner's jury on her death
estate OF ILLINOIS, LIVINGSTON COUNTY,
S.: In the matter of the inQuisition on the
body of Mrs. DR.. Duckett of Forest, Ill de-
ceased, he'd at ChatswOrth on the 18th day
Of August, A. D. 1897: We, the undersigned
jurors, sworn to inquire into the cause of the
death Of Mrs. DR.. bucket, late of Forest, Ill,
on oath do find that she came to her death
by injuries received in the wrecking of the
Niagara Falls excursion train on the Toledo
Peoria & Western railway, on which she was
. passenger, at a bridge two and one-half
miles east of Chatsworth, about IL o'clock
midnight, "Wednesday, Aug. 10, 1887.
1--WE find that the wrecking Of the said
train, which totally demolished eight coaches,
one baggage-car, one engine, and either
killed or wounded most of the occupants of
said coaches, was caused by said bridge hay
Ing been burned out before the train struck
It. We think from the evidence that the
bridge was fired from fires left burning
which had been set as late as o'clock that
afternoon by the section men, as
close as sixteen feet on both the
east and west sides of the bridge We
further find that the foreman of section :,
Timothy Coughlin, disobeyed positive orders
from his superior to examine the track and
bridges on his section the last thing on
Wednesday, and we find that he did not go
over the west two and one half miles at all
on Wednesday, and that the said foreman,
Coughlin, was guilty of gross and criminal
carelessness in leaving fires burning along the
track in such dry season and with such a
strong wind blowing.
ave recommend that he be held for exam
fuok bXyf ,or -
the opinion of the jury that the leaving Of
! the track without being patroEed for six
hours before the passage of the excursion
and the setting of fires by the section men on
such dry and windy day as the 10th of Au-
gust, 1887, were acts which deserve severe
criticism. w. w. SEARS, Foreman.
"P. L. Cook.
"DAvID Z. SHAW
Al. z. TURNER.
-. r. BINGHAM
"FRANK OSBORN
"The within verdict was agreed upon and
signed in my presence and approved by me
this 18th day of August, 1887.
CHARLES II. LONG, Coroner.
Livingston County"
AS soon as the verdict had been found.
. warrant for Coughlin's arrest. prepared
by Coroner Long, was placed in the hands
of Deputy Sheriff Sanford, who is also
the town marshal. The officer found
COughln working with bis gang short dis
lance down the track He was Immediately
placed under arrest, but was allowed to go
to his home, about quarter of mile from
the depot, with the officer, where he put on
his best suit of clothes and bid good-by TO
his wife and seven children, who cried and
hung around his neck III the most affect
ing manner. The prisoner was then taken
to the depot, where he awaited the coming of
the train which was to take him away
to the county Jail at Pontiac. Whiee there
he was interviewed by you correspondent
He said that he considered the verdict
most unjust one, and declared that Heald
and Taggart, the section men who worked
with him on Aug. 10, had perjured them
selves in swearing that they had set fire TO
grass within sixteen feet OF the bridge on
that day. No grass had been burned within
the distance of three or four telegraph poles
east of the bridge on Aug. 10. He could not
account for their having testified as they did
He had not had any trouble with them. In
his opinion he had taken all possible precau-
tons to prevent the bridge catching fire.
The Commissioners Inquiry Closed.
PEORIA, H., Aug 19.-The railroad com
missioners have closed the taking OF testi-
mony here as 10 the cause of the Chatsworth
disaster, and have adjourned to meet nsxt
Tuesday in Chatsworth.
Still another death has been added to the
record OF the victims of the Chatsworth hor-
ror. Monday. Elton Walters was deemed
sufficiently recovered TO be removed from the
hospital at Chatsworth to Fairbury, the home
of the young lady who has been attending
him since his injury at that place. He died
this morning at o'clock. He was an employe
at the watch factory here, and his home was
ct Cottage, New York
An Old Churchman Dead.
CRHTRALIA. Ill, Aug. l&-The Rev. Elijah
Buck, one of the oldest residents OF this city,
died this morning al o'clock. he was almost
50 years of age. For many years he was q